Having been Christian, in the past, I used to wonder thissame idea. While those in church said God gives us a chance to choose him ornot. From that idea, I would say, but in that same thought, if you don’t chooseGod, you’re condemned, is that right? So in an honest view, no, humanity doesn’thave choice, you can choose God and be saved or not choose God and be damned.What kind of choice is that?

I grew to a point that when this subject was spoken of, I’dhave to say that choice is not an accurate word that coercion was a moreprecise description of it. The way I see it, if you truly have a choice, youcan choose and the consequences may follow but then to add, you also arepunished in the after life, that’s double indemnity

Heck, in human society, we try to avoid such actions butthen we claim that God is somehow better…it doesn’t add up.

Having never been Christian, I am still able to at least understand their perspective on the issue. It is often a single choice, with only two outcomes, but they do feel that there is a choice, albeit from their perspective a fairly easy one to make. Eternal life or eternal suffering, not a hard choice.

Some of us though, perfer the multiple choice...

_________________If you approach the Gaelic gods with 'I'm not worthy', they're going to reply to you with 'Then come back when you are.

My upbringing in Christianity gave me a different take on this. For one thing, humans could choose all they wanted but that didn't mean that they would be chosen by Yahweh. Only a certain number were going to be chosen and, looking around in the church pews? Didn't mean a thing. I think because of that, my parents preferred to think compassionately that their god would never condemn the vast majority of humans to eternal hellfire simply because he did not want them for his chosen people.

The free will part came in if he contacted you directly and you decided you did not want him for your god. And then it wasn't (to my parents) like he was going to punish them for eternity for refusing him - their god wasn't some nutso spurned lover. It was just that those people weren't going to get ice cream and cake (example) and well, that was their choice.

I have a feeling that my parents had a "different" brand of Christianity than most.

_________________Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. Marcus Aurelius

gillyflower wrote:My upbringing in Christianity gave me a different take on this. For one thing, humans could choose all they wanted but that didn't mean that they would be chosen by Yahweh. Only a certain number were going to be chosen and, looking around in the church pews? Didn't mean a thing. I think because of that, my parents preferred to think compassionately that their god would never condemn the vast majority of humans to eternal hellfire simply because he did not want them for his chosen people.

The free will part came in if he contacted you directly and you decided you did not want him for your god. And then it wasn't (to my parents) like he was going to punish them for eternity for refusing him - their god wasn't some nutso spurned lover. It was just that those people weren't going to get ice cream and cake (example) and well, that was their choice.

I have a feeling that my parents had a "different" brand of Christianity than most.

Certainly a different brand than mine. I think my mother prays for my soul each and every day because I stopped being her flavor of Christian. The pagan thing just makes me triply damned.

I am always shocked by what I perceive is a HUGE difference in the Jewish "version" of free will and the Fundamentalist Christian version,,,,,,

I mean free will is what you choose to DO,,,,,,it has nothing to do with what you 'believe",,,how do you CHOOSE to believe something?

I believe in free will, and I believe we all have free will (at least all mature, healthy individuals do),,,the Story of Adam and Eve is a STORY which illustrates that,,,,,when we choose to do right, we will be blessed,,,,when we choose to do wrong, we will reap the consequences,,,,

But you don't have to believe in MY God to choose to do right,,,,,in fact, what you BELIEVE matters little at all,,,,

I believe that you will be blessed for doing right whether you believe in my God or any other God or no God at all,,,,If we all chose to do right, we'd certainly be blessed with a much better world to live in, that's for sure,,,,,Holly